The All-Outdoors Whitewater Rafting California River Blog

After a couple “higher water” and certifiably high adventure Cherry Creek rafting  trips, we are now officially in the standard ol’ class V action.  And by “standard” of course I mean the most challenging and extreme commercial whitewater trip in the United States.  I mean Class V rapids that swallow 14 foot long boats and 10 foot oars.  I mean a gradiant of over 100 vertical feet per mile–in layman’s terms that means STEEP!  And I mean the “Miracle Mile” with its six back-to-back Class V rapids…….

So yeah, in this case I guess “standard” might not be the best word…..

(Above:  A fun boat of AO  rafting guides on Cherry Creek.  That Matt N in the driver’s seat there….)

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I have some more details on the 3rd annual American River Music Festival coming up this September.

Of most interest to you, oh faithful whitewater enthusiast and reader of this here rafting blog, is the musical guest that will be serenading festival rafters on September 18th.  Having processed my behind-the-scenes info, I can now reveal in no particular order that Jonny Mojo and Sid Lewis will be setting the gorge (lower section of the South Fork American River) a’ twitter with the sweetness of their  gitars n’ banjos.

I can also reveal that those folks who want to see the river from a different vantage point and checkout the riverfront hike on Friday instead will also be serenaded–by Rich Warren!   For tickets to the Music Festival and the pre-festival river rafting trip, go to the American River Music Festival website.

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http://www.vimeo.com/824003Word on the street around here is that the Merced River is going to have a slightly extended season.  It’s hot now, but the cool beginning to the summer means that the snowpack lasted a little longer than we’d usually expect. Sooooo……if you thought you’d missed your chance for a little rafting on the Mighty Mer, think again and make some plans.  We’re currently booking Merced rafting trips through Sunday, July 12th.  Check out our Merced rafting video and whet yer whistle!

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It was an early day, but a great day.  I don’t know if this is a tall tale or what, but rumors are guides were up waaaaaaay before sunrise; all I know is for me, that is just one more great reason to continue not ever rafting Cherry Creek.  Why the insanely early start?  To make sure that the water levels would be appropriate–1800 CFS at put-in.  Don’t worry–flows will be standardized soon enough, so we won’t need to be adjusting the regular meet time.  This was an unusual case.  We had two commercial boats with guests (with guides the Walker Bros) and one guide boat  (with guide Matt N) out in front.  Special guest appearances by AO owner Scott Armstrong and Randy C, who was last seen giving the AO shirt a tour of Shanghai!

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It’s not 100% yet, because we haven’t gotten an iron-clad guarantee from the guy with his hand on the dam controls, but we think we’ll be able to start rafting Cherry Creek this coming weekend.  We’re hoping to get out there as soon as possible but we have a limit on how high the CFS can be for commercial trips.   We’ve been told by the water powers-that-be that Cherry Creek will be in the loop starting Sat June 27. We’ll keep you posted if that changes but for now, we’re ready to go!

(Above: Class V swim practice on Cherry Creek)

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If you’re coming to Lotus at the end of June for a rafting trip with the family, check out the American River Conservancy’s guided hike June 27th.  The mellow hike/walk will introduce you the the Dave Moore Nature Area and the riparian environment along the South Fork of the American River with games, activities, and a scavenger hunt.  For all the details on the all-ages hike, check out the ARC’s website.

This is a great way to round out a class III family rafting trip on the South Fork!  If you have very young kids don’t forget that we offer the Tom Sawyer Float trip as well. This trip just rafts the class II section of the South Fork and includes inflatable kayaks and activities just for kids.

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Well, if there’s one thing we rely on here in the rafting business it’s that stuff changes all the time.  The government and nature are more powerful than our powers to predict river conditions.

Case in point:  Yesterday I happily announced that our Cherry Creek season would open with a series of trips beginning June 19th.  We based this decision off information from the water guys at Hetch Hetchy reservoir.  Today we found out that in order to keep Hetch Hetchy from “spilling,” the dam authorities have decided to unexpectedly increase flows into the Tuolumne River.

Result?  Flows on the Main Tuolumne are gonna be great this weekend!  But Cherry Creek is just a little too high to run commercially so we’ve had to cancel those trips.  Hetch Hetchy tells us the spill risk should lessen soon (this hot spell is going to put a final fork in the remaining snowpack and then we’ll be entirely reliant on scheduled releases from reservoirs) so I expect to be telling you next week that Cherry Creek will be open for business.

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According the guys at the dams and our sources on the riverbank, Cherry Creek Rafting  is officially open for business–flows are perfect, ranging from 1500 to 2000 CFS.  This is down from yesterday’s “sporty” 2400 CFS.  Our guides are literally out there as I type on a fun trip, and they’ll be ready for action this Friday, when we have our first commercial trip of 2009.  We’ll also be on the Creek this Saturday and Monday. 

(Above:  Mushroom rapid on Cherry Creek–extreme whitewater rafting  at its finest. Yowza!)

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Great news for extreme rafters!  Cherry Creek is just about ready for business. We’ve gotten word from the Tuolumne River water authorities that flows will come down enough to raft Cherry Creek http://www.vimeo.com/823870by the end of June!  This is a little earlier than we had originally anticipated so we’re very excited.  Now that spring flows are over throughout the state, Cherry Creek is your best option for extreme whitewater rafting in California.  Actually, a more accurate way to say it is that regardless of season, Cherry Creek is probably the most extreme commercially-rafted river in the whole country.

We may be able to open Cherry Creek for commercial trips as early as June 20th so call us if you want to get on the first trip of the season!  We’ll keep you updated on flows and trip dates.

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It is as we expected–the 2009 rafting season on the Kaweah is over.   We no longer have reliable, solid rafting flows so we’re packing up and heading north to our summer stalwart rivers, the South Fork and Middle Forks of the American, and the Tuolumne.  Soon enough we will be able to add Cherry Creek to that list–we’re just waiting for the water to come down low enough (sounds counter-intuitive, I know, but high water on Cherry Creek isn’t a good thing for rafting).

So farewell Kaweah and Three Rivers Hideaway!  We’ll be back, same time next year.

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